I shall never be forgiven all my faults

It has been a good few days. It's been quiet and a little lonely, isolation broken only by a surprise visit from Grune. But it's been good. For once, being alone in his own head proved to be a good thing for Giles. Those few days alone on the beach had given him time to think, to process, to deal with the events of the experiment and everything he'd lived through.

The sight of Twilight's...of Angel's face twisted up in fear just before Giles delivered the killing blow has kept him warm on a few cold nights already, and he knows it won't be the last time. He feels...alive. He feels real. The sheer, exultant triumph of being able to kill his killer, coupled with the strange certainty of his soul having been read by Grell, have combined to steady Giles in a way that hasn't been possible for this long of a while in months upon months. And taking a few days to sort himself out on the beach, out of the way of the hustle and bustle and the concern of the many and sundry people that he seems to have surrounded himself with, has helped Giles realize that and comprehend it.

Even so. All good things. It's probably time to go back.

He packs up that morning and starts the walk back to the fort. There are a few tense, bad moments as Giles tries to sort out the teleporter, and several more when he does and has to sit quietly against the wall with his head in his hands, trying not to throw up, once he has sorted out the teleporter and found himself back in the barracks. But overall, a success. At least he arrived in one piece.

Giles stops off at home long enough to drop off his things. The last thing to be unpacked is the small glass jar of seashells - those that didn't wind up on a necklace of twine and given to Grune. But they were still quite nice shells, if he said so himself. No reason they should just sit in a jar.

That's when he realizes that he hasn't seen Ingrid in a while, and has she ever seen a seashell ? Has she ever been to the beach? Well, if she hadn't, they could go ahead and make a good start of it.

The first sign Giles has that something is wrong is when he checks the clinic for her. All right, he'd advised her to move out, to find a new place, but it had to be a good place to start. But his search proves fruitless, empty. Not only is there no sign of Ingrid, there's no sign of her bubble, of her equipment.

Would she really take that with her?

A filtered message to the girl breaks before Giles can so much as breath, and that's when the panic really sets in. He goes walking, then, searching the village for any sign of the girl, checking apartment buildings and the housing roster in the Welcome Center and asking after her in the shops.

It's the Item Shop where Giles finally realizes that his search is in vain. Because there, in the corner, bright and shiny and new, is a purple bicycle with a bell and a basket.

She wouldn't have left that for just anyone to take. She wouldn't have.

...she can't have.

He sounds...upset, when he finally musters up the energy to speak over the journals that afternoon. He and Ingrid had their fights, their arguments, their conflicts. There were things unsaid...things that will never now be said...that held them back. But he cared about her, he enjoyed her company, enjoyed guiding and protecting her, and the letter in his pocket shows him that the feeling was mutual.

And he will miss her.]

For those of you that knew her...

[He sighs, feeling so very tired and impossibly old.]

...Ingrid Grimmholtz has been sent home.

[He remembers the old mantra from Buffy - that they're always better back home - but he can't tell himself that for Ingrid. Not for the girl who spent her life in a bubble and had never so much as pet a kitten before arriving here.]

[Locked to Archie Kennedy and Robert Hastings]
She left letters for the both of you. I have them. I haven't read them. If you want them, I'll bring them by.
[/Locked]

[Several seconds go by.]

...and, in case it wasn't terribly obvious, I'm back. Hello. It was quite a nice vacation while it lasted. I finally see what all the fuss is about with regards to that beach.

...still. [And here he tries to regain some of that peace, some of that good feeling, that's surrounded him like a new cloak all those days at the shoreline.]

Life goes on.

...how is everyone?

[Find Giles around the village today - largely by the river, as he attempts to continue his newfound contact with Sona that has finally started going so well. He'll swing by the grocery store for fixings for dinner before he heads home, and spend most of the evening working on the boat. In another few days of good, hard work, the basic structure of the Unnamed Boat should finally be finished up.]

((ooc: Feel free to run into Giles before or after he realizes Ingrid is gone - just specify which. Location is very much flexible))

[Outside sounds can be heard as the journal turns itself on, outside sounds and not much else. Followed, after a second of thoughtful silence, by Giles' voice.]

Hello to all you New Feathers. Or at least, those of you I haven't met already. Allow me to extend my sympathies that you're in here with us, now that you all seem to have gathered. You can do the same for the next batch to arrive in two months.

I'm sure you'll make the best of it. Everyone seems to. You'll probably find that most of the people around you are helpful and basically kind. Granted, some are utter psychopaths, but they're relatively few and far between. The lack of money is a nice bonus, or so I've always found. The people at the Welcome Center seem to always be available for help, gods bless them, and the guide explains most everything you need to know. But I can answer any questions you might still have, or at  least I'll try my best.

Settle in and try to live the best you can until you're sent home. That's the best advice I can offer.

...well, no, there's another message I'd love to pass on. Civic responsibility, and all that. But some friends of mine might get annoyed at me. Have to keep some surprises back for the New Feathers, after all. [It's a soft jab at one particular friend, and a not-so-light jab against one particular person who isn't a friend at all. You both can't say he's not cooperating, he just doesn't have to like it.

There's a gap of about an hour between this message and the next, and when it goes out Giles' tone has changed. Now he's addressing certain people. A lot of "certain people", pretty much anyone who knows what he's been recovering from the last three weeks, but it's a directed message rather than one aimed at the village as a whole.]

To anyone who's concerned, my eyes are healing. Slowly but surely. It's driving me absolutely insane, but they are. I'm not...running into large obstacles and I'm not tripping over my feet as often.

Still, I'm sorry if I've kept back work on the boat .[He knows that his filters are absolutely useless when he's working the journal by memory, so by and large Giles has ceased bothering. Congratulations - if you didn't know before, you now know that he's been wor] I just don't feel up to working with oakum when I can't see, and...well, I know you've all been busy.

...but from what I've heard so far, there are plenty of other villagers starting to pick up the slack, in the matter of shipbuilding. So at least we're not alone.

[Another pause, a much more pensive one. Another question bounced over to anyone who feels like answering, anyone who can answer]

...is anyone else worried that the experiment this month seems a bit, well...late? I know I shouldn't complain, not after last month, but even so...

...I confess that I've come to almost depend on the cyclical nature of this place. Especially since deviations from that cycle rarely mean anything good for us. I know I should just keep my mouth shut, tempting fate and all, but...

...times that should be peaceful almost never are. That was how it worked, back home. The one night of the year where nothing terrible was supposed to happen usually turned out to be one of our most problematic.

[Anyone looking for Giles after his message will find him outside the barracks today, of all places. Not inside - he doesn't trust himself not to get in the way of anyone actually fit to train. But outside, off to the side, sword in hands. He's also moved a wooden practice dummy out with him, at least to give himself something to hit. He's running through a few katas and drills - some simple, some dizzyingly complex. Just to keep in practice. Approach with caution, citizens - the silhouettes of people still have a tendency to blend into the mingled shapes, shadows, and light that make up his world right now, and over the sound of the sword cutting past the air he won't be able to hear footsteps that well.

But when he pauses for breath, or to wipe the sweat out of his eyes, he might sense your presence.]

((ooc: Not that I'm complaining about the late/lack of experiment, either. I know the mods have plots they're getting ready to spring on us, and all that fun stuff, and that everyone is busy. But hey, you know Giles. He notices these things, and they bug him.))

So. New Feathers.

[There's a faint "tap, tap" sound that might be a pencil being beaten absentmindedly against the pages of the journal] Welcome to Luceti. I'm Rupert Giles, and I was in your shoes two months ago. I'll try and answer any questions you might have, but if no one's answered them already then they're probably not the sort of questions that should be discussed over the journals. Do be careful with the wings. Keep an eye on the shops for a while for your things - sometimes it takes a few days. Something strange will probably happen at the end of the month, but we have no idea just what it might be.

Overall, there are probably worse places to be stuck for a while. But I'm well aware that I don't speak for everyone, in that regard.

( [Locked to Okita Souji - 65% unhackable] )
( [Locked to Paprika - 65% unhackable] )

[Well, Halloween had been a special kind of horrific. But after a few nights of real sleep back in his apartment and mostly after a great deal of patience on the part of his friends, Giles is back on his feet and back to his, for lack of a better word, "normal" routine.

First a while at the Battle Dome that morning, where he'll spar with anyone who's up for it but is mostly looking for a refresher course against some holographic vampires. Then work at the library later that afternoon, now that the books are having the decency not to float off of the shelves. He spends the evening continuing his attempts to contact Sona by the river. He's finally reached the point where she stops immediately splashing him and running away, at the very least, but any loss of concentration will cause her to do just that anyway.]

((ooc: Feel free to encounter him at any of the above times/places, if you want, or just respond to the voice post, but please indicate which in your tag.))